Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 (UK)

The bill that was introduced earlier this year in the United Kingdom to regulate online gambling comes into effect soon on 1st October 2014. Essentially the legislation (known as the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014) requires that any operator wishing to transact with or advertise to consumers in Britain to obtain an operating licence from the Gambling Commission

As a result of this legislation there will be a number of online bookmakers that will no longer accept bets from UK customers until such time as they become approved and actively licensed with the Commission.

Pinnacle Sports bans UK accounts

Due to the recent changes to British gambling licensing regulations, Pinnacle Sports have announced that after September 30th 2014, they will now be unable to offer their services in Great Britain. This will be seen as a blow for UK punters as Pinnacle Sports are a quality sports betting company that are renowned for consistently offering the best betting odds due to their low margins.

British account holders have been advised that:-

- Any bets placed up to and including September 30th 2014 will be honoured.

- All account options for British betting accounts other than withdrawal will be blocked after September 30th, 2014.

- Funds remaining in Pinnacle Sports accounts may be withdrawn at any time, free of charge.

Australian online bookmaker IASbet.com closed on 5th August 2014.

The parent company of IASBet.com, Sportsbet Pty Ltd, trading as Sportsbet.com.au (Sportsbet), has made the decision to discontinue actively promoting the IASBet.com brand for commercial reasons and instead focus its attention on the Sportsbet website and brand

The following is a notification to IASbet.com account holders.

"From 5 August 2014, IASBet.com customers will only be able to place their bets using the Sportsbet.com.au platform, but will otherwise continue to be bound by the IASBet.com terms and conditions. When an IASBet.com customer goes to the IASBet.com website, the customer will land on a ‘splash page’ which will re-direct them to place their bet on Sportsbet’s website. 

Although the bet will be processed by Sportsbet’s website, a bet made by an IASBet.com customer is still made with IASBet.com. The IASBet.com customer will be able to log into the Sportsbet website with their IASBet.com credentials. If the IASBet.com customer also has a Sportsbet customer account they will be able to log in with either their Sportsbet account credentials or their IASBet.com account credentials. "

Essentially the smaller brand is being merged with the larger brand. Both websites were operating on the same software platform, so other than the brand change, not much will change for existing customers of IASbet.

Germans are still celebrating after yesterdays World Cup win over Argentina and now we look to other Major Soccer Regional Tournaments such as next year's Asian Cup.
Australian bookmaker Sportsbet reports that plenty of Australians are already looking to the national team, The Socceroos to take out the Asian Cup. 

Japan are favourites at this stage of the Asian Cup betting and Sportsbet have taken about 60% of their bets so far on Japan to win , but with the Socceroos gutsy performance in The World Cup Australian bettors think they can go all the way in the Asian Cup so they have firmed to $4.25 as second favourites.

Sportsbet.com.au’s representative Will Byrne expects Australia to overtake Japan as the best backed team by kick off next January

Market courtesy of sportsbet.com.au (14th July 2014)
Asian Cup Winner 2015
$3.50 Japan
$4.25 Australia
$7.00 Iran
$7.00 South Korea
$10 Uzbekistan
$19 UAE
$20 Jordan
$26 China
$26 Iraq
$26 Oman
$26 Saudi Arabia
$41 Kuwait
$41 North Korea
$41 Qatar
$67 Bahrain